Wish this was real presents nearly a decade of photography by Tyler Mitchell, who propels a visual narrative of beauty, utopia, and the landscape that expands visions of Black life. Driven by dreams of paradise against the backdrop of American history, his photographs embrace the extraordinary radiance of the everyday.

Mitchell (born in 1995 in Atlanta, Georgia) studied film and television at New York University. His early work in fashion photography, remarkable for his bold use of color and effortless attention to style as a performance of self-determination, led to features in magazines including i-D and Dazed. In 2018, Mitchell was commissioned to photograph Beyoncé for American Vogue’s September issue, making history, at the age of twenty-three, as the first Black photographer to shoot the magazine’s cover. A testament to the cultural influence of the “New Black Vanguard”, a movement led by photographers navigating the intersection of fashion and art, Mitchell’s portrayals of Black leisure can also be seen as a form of resistance against violence and discrimination.

Wish this was real is Mitchell’s first exhibition in Nordics, and spans a dynamic artistic practice, from portraits made in the United States, Europe, and West Africa, to his latest prints on fabric and mirrors. “I hope there is an honest gaze to my photos”, Mitchell says. The exhibition unfolds in three loose themes: portraiture and youth in Lives/Liberties, the landscape as a stage for leisure and community in Postcolonial/Pastoral, and the preservation of social memory in Family/Fraternity. Seeking to convey moments of play and human connection, Mitchell traces photography’s vital role in shaping a visual realm in which refuge and repose are central.

Wish this was real is curated by Brendan Embser, senior editor at Aperture, and Sophia Greiff, C/O Berlin Foundation, in collaboration with Tyler Mitchell Studios. Unless otherwise noted, all photographs are pigment prints courtesy of the artist.

The exhibition has received a state grant from the Finnish Heritage Agency.